Korean Film Council partners with UH Manoa Academy for Creative Media for 2nd Filmmakers Development Lab

The National Korean Film Council (KOFIC) will again partner with the Academy for Creative Media (ACM) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for its second international Filmmaker‘s Development Lab August 26-September 2 in Makaha. This year‘s lab includes a $40,000 award for the top script.

Five emerging filmmakers of Korean descent have been selected to become fellows from their submitted scripts through an international competition. The fellows will be matched with individual mentors drawn from the film industry in Korea and the United States and spend a week in Makaha in one-on-one sessions developing their scripts through the Lab. The fellows will present their projects to producers, financiers and production companies at the Independent Feature Film Market in New York in September, and at the Pusan International Film Festival in Korea, in October.

Lab mentors also plan to present an ACM Master Class on the Korean Film Industry which will be free and open to the public on August 31 at 2:30 p.m. in Crawford Hall on the Mānoa Campus. In addition, they will be visiting with the Waianae High School Seariders Production Program, ACM‘s primary partner in media education development in island schools.

"Following the tremendous success of last year's inaugural Filmmaker's Development Lab, all of us at ACM are thrilled and honored to continue our association with the Korean Film Council and this year‘s Filmmaker's Development Lab," said Chris Lee, ACM director. "We look forward to hosting old friends and making new ones this year, as we pursue this opportunity to discover and nurture emerging Korean filmmakers from around the world."

The five fellows named to the 2007 Filmmakers Development Lab have already produced films that have won multiple awards at festivals and have been nationally televised. They include: Nathan Adolfson, Christina Choe, Jeyun Choi, Samuel Kiehoon Lee and Gene Rhee.

Mentors for the 2007 lab include Korean producers Jonathan Kim ("Silmido," "Lies") and Jooick Lee ("Battle of Wits," "Seven Swords,"); U.S. Producer Peggy Rajski ("Home for the Holidays," The Grifters,"); talent agency head Brant Rose; and American Film Institute Senior Lecturer Barry Sabbath. Kim and Sabbath are returning mentors from the first Filmmaker‘s Development Lab.

KOFIC Chair An Cheong Sook said, "We are pleased to support and organize this second Lab to build on the success and experience of last year's effort. As a demonstration of our strong support of the Lab, and our wish to help filmmakers of Korean descent, we will also be awarding $40,000 to the most meritorious Lab script or scripts later this year."

The Lab and its activities are wholly funded by KOFIC, and held in partnership with ACM, the Independent Film Project in New York, and the Center for Asian American Media in San Francisco.

Additional information on the 2007 Filmmaker‘s Development Lab is available online at http://fdl.kofic.or.kr. For more information on the Academy for Creative Media, visit www.hawaii.edu/acm.